Last year 224 families from the Komi Republic, the easternmost part of Barents Russia, received housing certificates to move out of the region, the republic’s official web portal informs.

The federal program for moving people out of Russia’s northern areas is expected to increase considerably in 2015. The local authorities in the Komi Republic are expected to then get 859.4 million rubles (app €19 million) to these aims.

The Komi Republic had 889,837 inhabitants on January 1 2012. The population reached its peak in 1989 with 1,250,847 inhabitants and has been steadily declining since then.